Niger Delta stakeholders, especially the Ogoni Ethnic Nationality, have berated the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, for defending the commissioning of the uncompleted phase one of the Eleme-Onne axis of the East-West road.

The stakeholders said it was a mark of “dishonour” for the Minister to “lie openly” and defend the commissioning of a road that has not been ‘completed.’

Following the public outcry that trailed the controversial commissioning of the road on May 31, 2025, The Guardian on June 9, 2025, carried out an on-the-ground fact-checking and verified that the commissioned phase one, which is one carriageway of the dual carriageway, has not been completed. Work is still ongoing by the Reynold Construction Company (RCC), while the second carriageway is yet to commence.

President Bola Tinubu, in a statement issued on May 31, 2025, by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced the commissioning of several roads across the country—including the dualisation of the East-West road section II (subsection I) from Eleme junction in Port Harcourt to Ahoada.

However, after criticism trailed the commissioning of the road, on June 12, the Minister of Works, during an inspection on-site, told journalists (not The Guardian) that the project is in phases and explained that what was commissioned is phase one, which is one carriageway.

The minister stated, “Phase one is one carriageway, and phase two is the second carriageway, the bridges, and the flyover. So we are done with phase one, and that’s what we commissioned.”

Piqued by the Minister’s claim and insistence that the road was almost 80 percent completed, former President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Pygbara Legborsi, called for the sack of the minister, saying his alleged claim and deceit on the road is a “continuation of genocide against the Ogoni people.”

Legborsi lamented that many people have been killed on the same road, adding that the Minister’s claim that an uncompleted road was good enough for commissioning means he wants further deaths on the road.
Pygbara said, “It is highly condemnable that a Minister can lie openly to the whole world on a road that has not been completed and claim that it has been completed. That is a mark of dishonour and a criminal act. How can he lie openly to the world about that critical road? We demand the sack of Umahi.”

Similarly, former Chairman of Khana Local Government Area in Rivers State, Celestine Akpobari, said he traveled home for the weekend through the road and confirmed that the phase one of the Eleme-Onne axis is not ‘completed.’

“I left Port Harcourt and traveled home this weekend. That road is not completed—they are still working on that first lane, I can confirm.

“A road with four flyovers, and not even a single flyover has been built or constructed, so why are they in a hurry to commission it half done? Is anyone taking the road from them?” he queried.

Akpobari said the credit for the road will still be given to the Minister and the President and urged Umahi to calm down and deliver the project before commissioning.

“Most of the names people are calling the President are because the Ministers are misinforming him, especially the Minister for Works,” he added.

He further cautioned Umahi not to mislead the President.

Similarly, the leader of the Coalition for Ogoni Women, Dr. Patience Osareojiji, said it was disheartening that most women and children are struggling to cross the road due to the uncompleted bridges and hold-ups still being witnessed.

She said, “How can they say the first phase of the Eleme-Onne axis of the East-West road has been completed? I passed there today, work is still ongoing, and that portion of the road has not been completed.”

On his part, the Director-General of Ogoni Democratic Link, a body that unites the Ogonis, Menele Ziadam, described Umahi’s action as unfortunate and called on the President to send independent investigators to assess the state of the road.

“It is most unfortunate that a former governor of Ebonyi State, Umahi, should be deceiving the whole world that one lane of the Eleme-Onne road has been completed while it has not. That road is not in any way completed. Why the rush?

“What do they want to gain by giving a false impression and making the President commission an uncompleted road?” Ziadam stated.

He urged the minister not to take the Ogonis for a ride, saying that even though the Ogonis appreciate the President’s commitment to developing Ogoniland, the Minister should not take the people for granted.

Also, a prominent son of Eleme, Nwafor Awala, criticized the Minister for commissioning what he described as an “incomplete and misleading” portion of the East-West road.

Awala questioned the rationale of asking the President to commission a single carriageway beside a decaying bridge while portraying it as a completed project.

In a strongly worded statement titled, “Don’t Call it Development—Call it Betrayal,” Awala expressed disappointment not only in the Federal Government but also in political leaders from Rivers State, particularly Eleme, for remaining silent amid what he termed a “mockery” of the people’s sacrifice.

The stakeholders also berated Umahi for describing the Ogoni apex socio-cultural group, KAGOTE, as a faceless organization.

KAGOTE is an acronym for the four Local Government Areas in Ogoni—Khana, Gokana, Tai, and Eleme.